Pilots ponder legal action over 'insane' Qantas grounding

THE Australian International Pilots Association (AIPA) is looking into taking legal action against Qantas, describing the decision to ground the fleet as "insane" and possibly in breach of the Fair Work Act.

Speaking outside the Qantas domestic terminal at Sydney Airport, AIPA vice-president Captain Richard Woodward said the union had its legal team looking into the legal options.

"We think that Alan (Joyce) may have been in breach of the Fair Work Act by his actions," he said.

"He has locked out the short-haul pilots, they are not in this dispute - their award is not up for negotiation until next year."

Mr Woodward said the short-haul operations of Qantas was the most profitable arm of the airline.

"It's an insane reaction," he said.

Qantas pilots never had any intention of going on strike and claims to the contrary were simply untrue, Mr Woodward said.

"All we were thinking about doing was not ringing in before heading into work," he said.

"We are very conservative people, we know that Qantas passengers hold us in trust ... they trust us to get them there safely and we always intended on doing that."

AIPA said it was seeking a new clause in the enterprise bargaining agreement with Qantas that would ensure that all of the airline's flights were operated by pilots from the flying kangaroo as opposed to being outsourced.

He said the only industrial action Qantas pilots had been taking was inflight announcements about the industrial dispute as well as the donning of red ties that carried the message "Qantas flight, Qantas pilots".

• ASSISTANT Treasurer Bill Shorten says Qantas' decision to ground its fleet was a "radical overreaction" to the standoff between the airline and unions.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.